This aspirator, designed principally for thoracentesis of the pleura, consists of a bottle, a suction pump, a dial manometer, a needle holder with different sized needles, and connecting rubber tubing. It is an extension in usage of the Philips empyema apparatus for simple thoracentesis of the pleura. It incorporates in the usage of the apparatus the advantages offered in the original empyema apparatus.1
OPERATION
The needles, needle holder and connected rubber tubing, up to the first glass connecting rod, are sterilized. The selected needle is now forced firmly on the needle holder, and the tubing of the holder connected to that of the bottle. The clamp just distal to the needle holder is shut, and a negative pressure of 40 mm. of mercury is produced in the closed system, by means of the suction pump. The needle is now very slowly inroduced into the skin, and when the orifice